Popular French Quarter tour guide says he was beaten by cop

New Orleans tour guide Randy Bibb looks over his arrest report as he talks about the police officer he believes went too far on a French Quarter street two nights before Thanksgiving.

Two nights before Thanksgiving, popular New Orleans tour guide Randy Bibb had stopped his bicycle in the French Quarter to give a tourist directions to a hotel when the blaring of a truck's horn startled him.A pickup truck with a horse trailer hitched to the back had turned onto Dauphine Street and apparently was obstructed by the two men talking near the curb. And the driver, whom Bibb initially did not realize was a New Orleans police officer in an NOPD truck, didn't take kindly to Bibb's blunt request that he "go around, " the tour guide said. Indeed, moments later Bibb, 50, found himself in police custody, eventually booked with public drunkenness and obstruction of a public place, after the officer, Willie Gant, punched him twice in the jaw in a profanity-laced tirade, Bibb has alleged. The New Orleans Police Department's Public Integrity Bureau is investigating Bibb's complaint, which he filed on Friday, Police Department spokesman Bob Young said. Bibb said he did end up pleading guilty on Nov. 26 to the public drunkenness charge, saying he just wanted to end the ordeal and was encouraged to do so by an attorney at the city's municipal court, who promised his quick release in exchange. In a paragraph summary on the arrest affidavit, Gant described Bibb as blocking part of the street with his bicycle, saying that when he honked the horn "the subject used vulgar language and told the officer to go around." Gant added that "the officer observed that the subject had been drinking, " without describing any details about the evidence of his inebriation. The arrest and detainment on such a minor offense -- essentially, merely being rude -- seems to run counter to the NOPD's recent policy change directing officers to make municipal arrests only when necessary or if a person has a criminal record. Bibb said he had never been arrested before, a claim backed up by a search of Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish records. Young did not respond to a question about why the offenses merited an arrest, saying that would likely be part of the investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau. Bibb denied that he used inappropriate language and said he had only had one 12-ounce beer. It was the officer who swore when he jumped out of the truck, pushed Bibb off his bike and ordered him out of the way, he said. The tourist who witnessed the encounter fled when the police officer told him to "shut up" and "get the f - - - out." At that point, Bibb said the officer tossed his bicycle in the back of the truck, put handcuffs on him and took him on a drive through the Quarter, until they ended up parking on Dauphine. Bibb said he tried to speak several times, but was repeatedly told to "shut up, " along with swear words. Gant ordered Bibb out of the truck, saying, "When I tell you to shut the f - - - up, shut the f - - - up!" The officer then punched Bibb in the jaw twice, causing him to bite his tongue, Bibb said. A booking mug shows no bruises, but perhaps some slight swelling on the chin. Bibb said the punch wasn't hard enough to leave a mark. He was then uncuffed and told to walk his bicycle alongside Gant, meandering through the Quarter to Bourbon Street. Along the way to the 8th District station at Royal and Conti streets, Bibb described the officer as joshing with other police officers and Bourbon Street regulars. Bibb said he sat handcuffed to a bench at the police station for more than two hours, during which time Gant left the station. Eventually Gant returned and wrote out a ticket, he said. During his time in custody, Bibb said he didn't know Gant's name, later getting it off his jail paperwork. There are two Willie Gants who work as officers for the New Orleans Police Department and Bibb picked the older Gant out of an NOPD yearbook as the man who arrested him. But two other officers took Bibb to jail in the early morning on Wednesday, where he remained until just before 11 p.m., according to the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's Office. Marc Ehrhardt, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, could not directly address why Bibb would not have been eligible for a "fast-track" program established by Sheriff Marlin Gusman that quickly releases people arrested on municipal charges. But Ehrhardt said that standard practice calls for inmates to be detained as long as they appear inebriated. Before being released, Bibb went to Municipal Court, where an attorney gave him a piece of paper and told him to sign the guilty plea. If Bibb signed right then, he could be at home by nighttime, the man told him. Bibb said he doesn't remember if the man described himself as a city attorney or public defender, although he believed he was a prosecutor. At that point, Bibb said he just wanted to regain his freedom, describing his arrest as a bewildering experience. "I was frightened the whole time, " he said.

Laura Maggi can be reached at lmaggi@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3316.